Report: Samir Kuntar injured in Beirut

The website 'Lebanon Files' reported Saturday that residents of a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut say Samir Kuntar, a terrorist released by Israel three years ago, was injured in a blast in one of the buildings.

The marginal website has conceded that the report could not be confirmed and is based on rumors in the suburb of Dahiya.

In addition, the report cites witnesses as saying that a dead body has been found on location. A Hezbollah source told the site that the blast was a gas tank explosion.

According to the Lebanese paper al-Nahar, the explosion occurred Friday evening in southern Beirut. Sources told the paper it was not a result of a gas tank explosion but rather "an explosive device or hand grenade".

Hezbollah was quick to close off the area, the report adds. The blast apparently occurred on the tenth floor of a building near the group's central mosque.

Police forces have been kept out of the area by armed Hezbollah guards, but the paper learned that one person was killed in the explosion.

The paper's sources, however, rejected the notion that the location was being used for weapons storage, and said it was more likely an explosive device or hand grenade "went off by accident". Hezbollah remains silent on the matter.

Samir Kuntar was part of a cell of four terrorists that entered Israel on April 22, 1979. They came to a Nahariya beach and fired on a police cruiser, killing Eliyahu Shahar.

Afterwards they broke into the home of Danny and Smadar Haran, kidnapping Danny and his 4-year old daughter, Einat, while Smadar and another daughter, Yael, hid.

The terrorists took the Harans back to the beach, where clashes ensued with police and IDF soldiers. Two terrorists were killed, but Kuntar succeeded in murdering Danny and Einat before he was arrested. Yael Haran choked to death while Smadar attempted to keep her quiet, so as not to be caught as well.